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SummerSlam (2014)
SummerSlam (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place Sunday on August 17, 2014 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the twenty-seventh annual SummerSlam, and the sixth and final consecutive one held at Staples Center. This was also the first WWE pay-per-view to use the new WWE logo but it would not be used on air and on the turnbuckle pads until the next night on WWE Raw. This would also be the last WWE pay-per-view to feature the championships with the scratch logo. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's main card and one match took place on the pre-show, which was streamed on the WWE Network. The main event saw Brock Lesnar defeat John Cena to become a four-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The event had 147,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from the previous year's 296,000 buys. Storylines The card consisted of nine matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. At Payback, Brie Bella quit WWE after her husband Daniel Bryan was given an ultimatum by the principal owner of WWE Stephanie McMahon to either forfeit the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or have Brie fired. Brie decided to quit and slapped Stephanie in the face. After that incident, McMahon would repeatedly put Brie's twin sister Nikki Bella in matches which invariably ended with Nikki being beaten down. On the July 21 episode of Raw, Brie returned to WWE as a fan in the audience to support her sister, but was slapped in the face by McMahon, who came to ringside to confront her. Later that night, Stephanie was arrested by the police for assault and battery, due to Brie not being part of the WWE roster. The next week on Raw, Brie confronted Stephanie and said that she would drop the charges as long as Stephanie rehired her and accepted her challenge to a match at SummerSlam, which Stephanie accepted. On the August 11 episode of Raw, Stephanie brought in Megan Miller, Bryan's physical therapist, who confessed to having an affair with her client. An infuriated Brie stormed into the ring and slapped Megan before attacking Stephanie. Later that night, Brie was arrested by the police after Stephanie revealed that Megan was pressing charges against her. At Battleground, AJ Lee defeated Paige to retain the WWE Divas Championship. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Paige attacked AJ after they defeated Emma and Natalya. On the July 28 edition of Raw, AJ confronted and attacked Paige. On the August 1 edition of SmackDown, after AJ defeated Rosa Mendes, Paige attacked AJ and threw her off the stage ramp, resulting in AJ suffering a whiplash injury. On August 4, it was announced on WWE.com that AJ would defend the title against Paige at SummerSlam. On the June 30 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho made his unexpected return to the WWE, only to be attacked by The Wyatt Family. This led to a match at Battleground, where Jericho defeated Bray Wyatt. On the July 21 episode of Raw, Jericho was to have Wyatt on his Highlight Reel show, but the Wyatt Family attacked Jericho in the locker room. On the July 28 episode of Raw, Triple H made the official announcement of the Wyatt-Jericho rematch at SummerSlam. On the August 1 edition of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Erick Rowan, banning Rowan from ringside during the match at SummerSlam as per match stipulation. On the August 4 edition of Raw, Jericho defeated Luke Harper by disqualification due to interference by Wyatt, causing Harper to be banned from ringside. At Battleground, John Cena defeated Randy Orton, Kane, and Roman Reigns to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The following night on Raw, Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE and was chosen by WWE COO Triple H to face Cena at SummerSlam for the championship. At Battleground, Rusev defeated Jack Swagger by countout. On the July 22 edition of Main Event, Swagger defeated Rusev by disqualification after Rusev hit Swagger with a Russian flag. On the August 1 edition of SmackDown, after Swagger defeated Cesaro, Lana came out along with Rusev and challenged Swagger to a Flag match at SummerSlam on Rusev's behalf, which Zeb Colter accepted on Swagger's behalf. At Battleground, The Miz won a 19-man battle royal to win the vacated WWE Intercontinental Championship, last eliminating Dolph Ziggler. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Ziggler defeated Miz in a non-title match. On the July 28 edition of Raw, Ziggler and The Usos defeated Miz and RybAxel. On August 4, it was announced on WWE.com that Miz would defend the title against Ziggler at SummerSlam. At Battleground, Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose by forfeit when Ambrose was ejected out of the arena by Triple H for attacking Rollins before the match. On the August 4 edition of Raw, Triple H announced that Ambrose and Rollins would face off at SummerSlam. Triple H also announced that Ambrose and Rollins would face Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam respectively in Beat the Clock challenge matches, and the winner would choose the stipulation for the match at SummerSlam. Ambrose defeated Del Rio to set a time of 15:42. Van Dam was switched out at the last minute for Heath Slater, who defeated Rollins, thus giving Ambrose the right to choose. On the August 8 edition of Smackdown, Ambrose announced that their match at SummerSlam would be a Lumberjack match. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Roman Reigns defeated Kane and Randy Orton in a handicap match and attacked Orton during Triple H's announcement on who would face John Cena at SummerSlam for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 28 edition of Raw, Orton attacked Reigns before his scheduled match against Kane. On the August 1 edition of Smackdown, Orton challenged Reigns to a match at SummerSlam. On August 4, it was announced on WWE.com that Orton would face Reigns at SummerSlam. On August 16, it was announced on WWE.com that Cesaro would face Rob Van Dam on the SummerSlam Kickoff show. Aftermath Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * SummerSlam Category:SummerSlam Category:2014 Pay-Per-View Events Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events